46 



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John Ward, F.S.A. 



M 



BOUT the middle of April, 1893, a sensational story 

 went the round of the local press. The heading of the 

 version as given in the Derbyshire Times — " Horrible 

 Discoveries at Matlock : Human Bones found in Rock 

 Crevasse "' — will at once indicate its nature and recall the 

 event to the reader's memory. This " horrible discovery " 

 was made at the Cawdor Quarries, opposite the gas works, 

 near Matlock Bridge Station ; and the circumstances that 

 attended it were as follows: — The proprietors, Messrs. 

 Constable and Co., had decided to extend their workings in 

 the direction of Megdale Farm, and this necessitated, as a first 

 step, the removal of the superficial soil. In doing this, the 

 men (to quote the above newspaper account) " came to an 

 excavation in the rock, probably naturally formed, and one 

 which ran a distance of several yards, but this was filled with 

 loose stones, believed to have been placed there. On removing 

 a large stone, it was found that there was a number of human 

 remains underneath," which proved to belong to four skeletons. 

 The firm immediately reported the matter to the police, who 

 in their turn submitted the best-preserved skull to a medical 

 gentleman. The opinion given was that it was the skull of a 

 middle-aged man ; that a fracture, not of recent date, on the 

 left temple was proof of a violent death; and that the skeletons 

 had been buried some thirty or forty years. 



